This broader study also reinforces the need for greater collaboration and coordination among networks. Like in the Twin Cities example introduced in Suburban Climate Change Efforts,283 the many networks examined in Part III have substantial overlap in their functions but appear to have limited direct coordination.
For example, the models, toolkits, and recognition provided by numerous networks at different levels address many similar steps that cities could take, but framed in various ways. This variation means that a city participating in more than one network would need to spend time reframing similar actions multiple times. If networks collaborated to create more consistency in what they ask of cities, they might increase their individual impact and the ability to measure across networks their impact on what their members are doing.284
This strategy has its limits, and full consistency is likely not possible or even desirable. Some networks have a broader focus on sustainability, which may be important for political reasons, whereas others have focused climate change goals.
However, there are enough similarities across networks that some greater
280 Urban Sustainability Directors Network, About Us, supra note 92.
281 See supra Part III.
282 Osofsky, Confidential Meeting with Local Leaders, supra note 58.
283 Osofsky, Suburban Climate Change Efforts, supra note 7, at 411–40.
284 See supra Part II.
consistency seems both possible and desirable.285 Moreover, the networks often have informal linkages that could be formalized. For instance, local officials in an urban area not included in this study have described how a center city joining the Mayor’s Agreement asked the regional planning entity for assistance with its required greenhouse gas inventory.286 The regional planning entity then asked the county for access to its ICLEI models, and in the process, agreed to do an inventory for the county and the smaller urban entities within that metro region’s equivalent of suburbs.287 I plan to work with networks to understand better where consistency could be achieved and how to build on such existing informal synergies.
Beyond consistency questions, the differentiation by scale of network penetration across the six metropolitan regions provides an opportunity for analysis and action. Specifically, further research is needed regarding why local and state networks seem to get better participation in some metro regions, while national and international networks do in others. It would be helpful to know if those differentiated choices are conscious and economic/political or instead reflect patterns of exposure and networking among cities in the region. As part of interviews on this question, I also plan to explore when and how networks spur or support action that would not otherwise have happened in participating cities.
An important question for this qualitative research is the extent to which the cost of joining a network influences participation rates. Networks in this study vary significantly in whether and how much they charge member cities. For example, at an international level, while both ICLEI and UCLG charge their members sliding scale fees based on population, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change is free.288 Some local government representatives have described the cost of ICLEI as prohibitive, but its modeling tools as very useful;289 as a consequence, within a metro region, governmental entities have sometimes shared resources from networks of which one of the entities is a member.290 At a national level, both the Mayors Agreement and USDN charge dues.291 However, at regional, state, and
285 See id.
286 Osofsky, Confidential Meeting with Local Leaders, supra note 58.
287 Id.
288 Global Network of Cities, Local & Reg’l Gov’ts, Join UCLG, UCLG, http://www.uclg.org/en/join-uclg, archived at http://perma.cc/5USG-DUY2 (last visited Sept. 11, 2014); Int’l Council for Local Envtl. Initiatives USA, Membership Dues, ICLEI USA, http://www.icleiusa.org/join/process-of-joining/iclei-usa-membersip-dues, archived at http://perma.cc/5N4N-DX9H (last visited Sept. 11, 2014); World Mayors Council on Climate Change, Registration Form, http://www.worldmayorscouncil.org/join/registration-form.html, archived at http://perma.cc/V6B5-RAD8 (last visited Sept. 11, 2014).
289 Osofsky, Confidential Meeting with Local Leaders, supra note 58.
290 Id.
291 Urban Sustainability Dirs. Network, Join USDN, USDN, http://usdn.org/public/Join.html, archived at http://perma.cc/EY8G-FP7M (last visited Sept.
11, 2014); U.S. Conference of Mayors, Dues for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, U.S.
regional levels, there is more variation that may affect participation decisions. For instance, the Chicago and Denver state and metro-regional networks charge for membership, but the Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Twin Cities, and regional EPA ones are free.292
In addition, I plan to consider in this further research how localities’ political affiliations influence their network participation. In the Twin Cities, both Democratic- and Republican-leaning communities were joining climate change networks, even ones with explicit climate focus like the Mayors Agreement, though participation in the sustainability-focused statewide Greenstep Cities program was more bipartisan than in the Mayors Agreement. This initial data is a hopeful sign that progress may be possible across party lines in a local context, but it would be helpful to understand both bipartisan participation patterns across metro regions and, through interviews, the extent to which local leaders are influenced by polarized national politics in their network participation and climate action.293
In places where political and economic barriers are not insurmountable, the underrepresented networks might make some targeted efforts to increase participation. In others, the networks that are more politically palatable might redouble their efforts to involve more cities, using the many participants as models.
Finally, to the extent that participation divergence is likely to continue in some metro regions, those networks with greater penetration or ability to penetrate might collaborate with those facing more barriers to maximize their impact.294
CONFERENCE OF MAYORS, http://www.usmayors.org/about/dues.asp, archived at http://perma.cc/6QQK-6FK8 (last visited Sept. 11, 2014).
292 Chi. Wilderness, Chicago Wilderness Member Application, https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6P8pYIRd5wIYmNTOEZYeHFrNkU/edit, archived at http://perma.cc/N2YF-7DMP (last visited Sept. 11, 2014); Colo. Climate Network, About the Colorado Climate Network, http://www.coclimatenetwork.org/about/index.html, archived at http://perma.cc/3987-Z938 (last visited Sept. 11, 2014); Atlanta Reg’l Comm’n, Certified Green Communities Program, http://www.atlantaregional.com/environment/green -communities, archived at http://perma.cc/LP2M-JU3Y (last visited Oct. 20, 2014) (providing no indication of cost); Inst. for Local Gov’t, About ILG, supra note 143; Minn.
Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota GreenStep Cities, supra note 149; MN Energy Challenge, About the Challenge, supra note 153; N.Y. Dep’t of Envtl. Conservation, Adopt the Climate Smart Communities Pledge, supra note 142.
293 For a discussion of these patterns and the ways in which nonpartisan elections and other factors, such as community connection, might make the local context less partisan, see Hari M. Osofsky & Jacqueline Peel, Energy Partisanship, 65 EMORY L.J. (forthcoming Jan.
2016) (manuscript at 48) (on file with Utah Law Review) (citing NAT’L LEAGUE OF CITIES, Partisan vs. Nonpartisan Elections, http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources /cities-101/city-officials/partisan-vs-nonpartisan-elections, archived at http://perma.cc/JN 65-XZPM (last visited Feb. 28, 2015)); Brian F. Schaffner, et al., Teams Without Uniforms:
The Nonpartisan Ballot in State and Local Elections, 54 POL.RES.Q. 7 (2001); Douglas D.
Perkins & D. Adam Long, Neighborhood Sense of Community and Social Capital: A Multi-Level Analysis, in PSYCHOLOGICAL SENSE OF COMMUNITY:RESEARCH,APPLICATIONS, AND
IMPLICATIONS 291 (Adrian T. Fisher et al. eds., 2002)).
294 See supra Part III.
Overall, the new data presented in this Article provides important information on how network participation varies across metro regions and where gaps are most pronounced. While analyzing participation in networks is only one component of fostering urban climate change, understanding these patterns can help to inform strategies and further research projects. Given both the high level of urbanization and the low level of overall participation, especially in the suburbs, rethinking the geography of urban climate action in this way is critical.